Steve Schell
07-15-2007, 12:15 AM
I was recently provided access to a literature archive by a motion picture industry professional. There is quite a bit of material related to the Shearer Two Way Horn System and Lansing Manufacturing Company that is new to Lansing Heritage. This is the kind of stuff that an amateur history buff like myself lives for. I will be providing scans of everything to Don, but for now I just had to share a couple of things.
Both of the images below provide more questions than answers, but are fascinating nonetheless. The first one is from Electronics magazine in January 1936. It is on a page that provides descriptions of new products. The new Shearer Two-way Sound System by Lansing Maufacturing Company is described, and the text seems to indicate the product from the Lansing bulletins that we are familiar with. The picture however depicts a two way horn system that looks like it flew in from outer space! The bass horn is straight rather than folded, and uses four 15" woofers on a common baffle. It greatly resembles the Ampex systems of about 20 years later, which it now appears must have been inspired by this system. The high frequency horn is also a style we have never seen before, being four cells high by six cells wide.
The second picture is from an article by John Hilliard in Electronics magazine, March 1936. The text describes the development of the Shearer System, and is similar to that published in a booklet by the Research Council of AMPAS that same year and again as a book chapter in 1938. What is VERY different is this picture of a system using a straight axis bass horn being fed by eight 15" woofers; three from each side, one top and one bottom. This photo disagrees with three drawings of the system in the same article, all of which depict the double stacked W bins (four 15" woofers total) that we are used to seeing.
Both of these pictures were published at a time when the prototype Shearer Horn systems had been built at MGM Studios and tested at Loews theatres around the country over the preceeding few months. Jim Lansing had evidently decided to begin building and marketing his new systems by late 1935, as there would have been a couple of months lead time for publication of his announcement in January 1936. My suspicion is that in both of these instances the published pictures were not the ones intended by Lansing and Hilliard. Until I see further evidence my theory is that these images depict earlier, rejected MGM Shearer System prototypes that were used in haste by the layout artists. In any event it is pretty neat that they have surfaced for our enjoyment and speculation in 2007.
Both of the images below provide more questions than answers, but are fascinating nonetheless. The first one is from Electronics magazine in January 1936. It is on a page that provides descriptions of new products. The new Shearer Two-way Sound System by Lansing Maufacturing Company is described, and the text seems to indicate the product from the Lansing bulletins that we are familiar with. The picture however depicts a two way horn system that looks like it flew in from outer space! The bass horn is straight rather than folded, and uses four 15" woofers on a common baffle. It greatly resembles the Ampex systems of about 20 years later, which it now appears must have been inspired by this system. The high frequency horn is also a style we have never seen before, being four cells high by six cells wide.
The second picture is from an article by John Hilliard in Electronics magazine, March 1936. The text describes the development of the Shearer System, and is similar to that published in a booklet by the Research Council of AMPAS that same year and again as a book chapter in 1938. What is VERY different is this picture of a system using a straight axis bass horn being fed by eight 15" woofers; three from each side, one top and one bottom. This photo disagrees with three drawings of the system in the same article, all of which depict the double stacked W bins (four 15" woofers total) that we are used to seeing.
Both of these pictures were published at a time when the prototype Shearer Horn systems had been built at MGM Studios and tested at Loews theatres around the country over the preceeding few months. Jim Lansing had evidently decided to begin building and marketing his new systems by late 1935, as there would have been a couple of months lead time for publication of his announcement in January 1936. My suspicion is that in both of these instances the published pictures were not the ones intended by Lansing and Hilliard. Until I see further evidence my theory is that these images depict earlier, rejected MGM Shearer System prototypes that were used in haste by the layout artists. In any event it is pretty neat that they have surfaced for our enjoyment and speculation in 2007.